Spoiler-free review of the latest Marvel Studios offering

Published May 4, 2016 at 1:35 PM | Updated at 2:02 PM PDT on May 4, 2016

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The one thing I can say with absolute certainty after watching Captain America: Civil War is this: Marvel has buried DC so completely I don’t know if DC will ever be able to climb back in to contention in then superhero movie business.

I was lucky enough to see the latest installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe on Monday night. This review will be spoiler-free, because you should be able to enjoy this as much as I did. The film is ambitious, for sure, but they are able to make it work.

One of the biggest concerns I had was making us believe why, after all they’ve been through together, Cap and Tony would be fighting. The graphic novel did a nice job of creating a friction based on a difference of opinion that has world-altering consequences. The biggest question I had for the film is how would they be able to manufacture that in 2 hours and 26 minutes, while sticking to the already established facts of the MCU, and make us buy it?

What they did was spot-on. A simple difference in ideology is not enough to get these comic book titans to come to blows so the film uses specific events to steel both Steve Rogers and Tony Stark. Unlike in Batman v. Superman where the two icons battle without really trying to understand one another, Civil War takes the time to set up why a conflict is necessary and how #TeamIronMan and #TeamCap are formed. They try to understand one another first, something that seems to be an obviously crucial part of storytelling to anybody but Zack Snyder.

Also, the way they incorporated Black Panther and Spider-Man is truly phenomenal. T’Challa is introduced for the first time in this film and just enough of his back story is given to make his presence on the team believable (Black Panther gets his own film in 2017).

It is assumed that most people who would see this movie have at least a fundamental understanding of Peter Parker’s story so not much time is spent on that. Instead the focus is on inserting him in to this version of the story, the first time Spidey is in a movie made by Marvel Studios (by the way, this is hands-down the best representation of the wall crawler in movie history so Spidey fans will be ecstatic).

Another unexpected plus of the film is its sense of humor. Civil War is full of laughs and they come at the right times. As for age appropriateness, I’d say anyone 10 years old and up can enjoy this film without having to worry about paying for therapy in a few years.

If you love Marvel movies, you’ll love this film. If you love the graphic novel, you’ll love this film. If you love movies in general, you’ll love this film. It’s not the stuff of an Oscar-winner but it is exactly what I like going to the movies for.